Why I Went Back to School After Working at Meta

A few years ago (back in the middle of 2023, actually), following the end of an engineering contract that I had at Meta Reality Labs (the part of the company that makes Quest headsets and Orion sunglasses), I started trying to understand AI (artificially intelligent systems) more deeply. I was a bit confused about how to use neural networks and gradient descent to build things, because I just wasn't comfortable with randomized ways to make a computer do things instead of giving specific instructions. And believe me, it was a long, arduous, and taxing journey. But now, I am a proud holder of a graduate certificate in AI (and it's not some prompt engineering fluff either) from Harvard Extension School. I've finally built enough confidence in my ability to build shape recognition systems, use basic statistical modeling to classify things, and even start reading papers on advances in machine learning. It took a lot of time and energy, but it means I can help you more things without the math and proof overhead that it takes for most people.